07-Feb-2011

Speculations on the biosynthetic origin of natural products continue to inspire synthetic chemists and have led to many elegant and efficient total syntheses. Many of these involve cascade reactions, where a high-energy substrate is formed and then spontaneously reacts further to create increasingly more complex products. As such, biomimetic strategies do not rely on the use of sophisticated enzymes, which are usually, but not always, required in a “real” biosynthesis.